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The state of the socket: Osram Sylvania releases lighting survey

Lighting giant Osram Sylvania releases its fifth annual Sylvania Socket Survey. The key takeaway: Many folks are jazzed about the incandescent phase-out even though they don't really have a clue what's going on.

An industry-benchmark used to gauge what in the hell American consumers think about energy-efficient lighting, this year’s survey reveals that although a majority of consumers (six in 10) are excited rather than concerned/bummed outabout the ongoing incandescent bulb phase-out, less than half (38 percent) are even aware that 100-watt incandescent bulbs were phased out last year. Roughly fifty percent of respondents are unaware of the 2014 phase-out of additional wattages. Uninformed but enthusiastic … I guess that works.

The survey also found that although hardly anyone has installed an LED bulb (1 in 10), the number of respondents who claim to be using incandescents dropped by an encouraging 16 percent (most consumers are opting for CFLs). Also, consumers are becoming more and more keen on purchasing homegrown bulbs — 77 percent of respondents believe that buying American-manufactured bulbs is important. Additionally, more than a third of Americans have evaluated their lighting choices over the last six months. When evaluating, factors such as longevity, brightness, energy efficiency, and price are of utmost importance to 9 in 10 consumers surveyed.

And then there’s the issue of incandescent hoarding:

Sixteen percent of respondents say that they plan to save up or 'hoard' 100-watt incandescent bulbs while they are still available, which is very similar to the 13 percent that said that they would stockpile 100-watt bulbs in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

And electricity bill mindfulness:

Since 2008, the number of consumers that listed 'burned out or broken' as their main reason for switching out their bulbs dropped by 10 percent. 68 percent of Americans say that they have switched lighting for increased energy efficiency.

You can view the complete survey results here (PDF). Osram Slyvania has also regurgitated some of the key findings along with light bulb technology basics into a nifty infographic:

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